Two dangerous fires near Tenterfield and Armidale are downgraded as firefighters keep properties out of danger, but the dwindling water supply and expected strong winds will make today challenging.

Weather conditions start to ease in northern New South Wales where firefighters continue to battle two fires that have burnt through nearly 60,000 hectares of bushland.

A bushfire threatening homes at Drake, near Tenterfield, is downgraded as the threat to houses eases.

Three young sisters work together to fulfil their dream of owning and operating their own Hereford stud and, despite drought and study, they are making a success of it.

The remains of a 77-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman are found on a property destroyed in the bushfires which ripped through northern NSW earlier this week.

A man is charged with two counts of murder after a woman and a young boy are found dead in a Tamworth house fire that police believe was deliberately lit. Two other people are in hospital with burns.

Residents in the regional city of Armidale are using their own water to save trees in their heritage-listed park, as the drought continues to deplete the district's water supply.

Whitehaven's Maules Creek coal mine is being investigated for allegedly unlawfully taking water, after farmers say their groundwater is drying up. The company has already been found to have allegedly unlawfully taken surface water by the NSW regulator.

A man is sentenced to two months' jail after assaulting a student from Hong Kong who says he was targeted because he was wearing a face mask to protect against coronavirus.

Rowena has been in and out of jail a handful of times — she says she is doing her best to stay out, but adds "when something bad happens on the outside, you just want to run back to jail and be safe".

There are now 22 people in Tasmania who have tested positive for coronavirus, with five people being diagnosed today, the director of public health says.

Tasmanian public schools will remain open "for the time being", while pubs, clubs, sporting venues and churches close from midday.

Gaming business Federal Group says it will not have jobs for about 1,500 of its 1,930 Tasmanian workers because of restrictions on the operation of hotels and casinos introduced to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Gambling giant Federal Group is demanding Tasmanian pub owners continue paying rent on leased poker machines, even while hoteliers have been forced to close due to coronavirus — a move blasted by Senator Jacqui Lambie as "trying to make a quid" during a "wartime scenario".

Tasmanian producer's market collapses from 6,000 carcasses a week at the start of this month to nothing.

Union calls to sack a council on Tasmania's east coast are growing louder, with the news its most senior staff member has resigned.

Once a destination for grey nomads and bus tours, Australia's island state has built its brand into something clean, green and edgy. With 10 per cent of its economy hinging on tourism, Tasmania has a lot to lose.

Allison Davies says when she uploaded a cheerful ditty about wellness on her Instagram page she had no idea it would strike a chord with families worldwide.

A young Tasmanian father is dead and five people are in custody after police are called to an altercation in Ritchie Avenue in Burnie early on Sunday morning.

A former shearer tells how he turned away from life as a wealthy businessman to find happiness.

The former Children's Commissioner is calling for school-based care services to stay open for vulnerable students, even if tougher lockdown measures are introduced.

Four men and one woman appear in court charged with murder over the death of a 23-year-old man in Burnie, in Tasmania's north west, early on Sunday morning.

Tasmania records its first coronavirus death after a woman in her 80s dies in hospital in the state's north-west, with the state's case tally rising by three to 69.

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein has announced the state's first coronavirus related death.

No new cases are identified on the day Tasmania records its second coronavirus death, an elderly man in southern Tasmania who was a passenger on the Ruby Princess cruise ship.

For the first time in about a fortnight Tasmania has had no new positive coronavirus tests, but the Premier says that's no reason to relax while warning parents to supervise children not at school.

Researchers in Adelaide are working on turning mushroom waste into items like sunscreen, skincare products and coating for outdoor furniture.

When David Morrell's wife in wheelchair had a fall last week, he couldn't help her up because he's blind. He's made the tough decision to cancel support services to avoid his wife contracting COVID-19, but worries how they'll cope alone.

Nursing homes have been locked down to protect vulnerable older people from the coronavirus but families who provide basic care, like feeding, say they need access because their loved ones may not survive without it.

Sex work, food vans at farmers' markets and race meetings are some of the latest activities banned by Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein, as part of the ongoing effort to slow the spread of coronavirus in the state.

Aged care facilities in all Australian states have recorded infections of COVID-19, with four new nursing homes recording cases in the last two days.

If there is anything good to come out of the coronavirus pandemic, it could be that rural Australians end up better connected to essential and recreational services than ever before.

The likes of Zoom, Skype and Hangouts have brought an added layer of awkward delays and pixelated faces to our meetings, staff briefings and catch-ups. But there are ways to make the experience less painful and more productive.

If you see a Tasmanian devil this week, remember to wish it happy birthday. They've earned it, after a "brutal" natural selection process in which a maximum of four joeys — out of a litter of 40 — survive.

A teenager pleads guilty to manslaughter, saying he is "honestly sorry for what I have put everyone through" and admitting he fatally punched a university academic at a Hobart nightclub in 2019.

The Tasmanian hospital where two staff members have tested positive to coronavirus will remain open, authorities say, assuring the public they can be "confident about the care they receive".

Backpackers sacked after bars and restaurants closed down due to coronavirus are flocking back to previous farm jobs, but employers want details on Government help with quarantine measures.

The Tasmanian Government bans visits to all of the state's hospitals, with some exceptions for parents and on compassionate grounds, under new social distancing measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Regional Express Airlines has warned the folding of its services to some regional and remote communities could effectively shut residents off from the rest of Australia, as the company waits hopefully for vital federal government funding.

Artist Megan Walch was just two weeks into a months-long arts residency in the heart of Paris when coronavirus took hold of France. Armed with her camera, she documented her experiences. Now back home in Tasmania, she's just one of the artists adapting her work for an unusual age.

Year 12 students are assured they will receive an ATAR university entrance rank and will not have to repeat the school year.

Residents are finding ways to cope as a full lockdown looms over the region, with one woman banging pots and pans in support of essential workers, while another considers whether to shut up shop.

Many parts of Australia have worked hard to attract migrants to help boost the population and ageing workforces, but many like Rosan Bhattarai are now without a source of income because they are on temporary visas and can't get access to the JobKeeper program.

Tasmanian companies keen to keep staff employed are adapting and shifting their business focus by making face shields, hand sanitiser and other products in high demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the years after World War II Tasmanians took to the country to buy up vacant land and built makeshift dwellings on their own patches of paradise. Shacks now dot the Tasmanian coastline, but they're not as shabby as their names suggest.

Automated crosswalks, the rebirth of suburbia, electric scooters — there are many quirky and nuanced ways that the coronavirus outbreak could impact on urban life.

The Tasmanian Government to seek Federal Government and ADF assistance over coronavirus outbreak in the state's north-west.

A 91-year-old woman becomes the sixth Tasmanian to die from coronavirus, as the state's overall tally jumps to 165 cases — with all of the new cases known to be from the disease hotspot of the north-west.